Odetta Medich’s glamorous, but discreet life on the French Riviera as Rod Medich awaits retrial
THE former wife of property tycoon and murder accused Ron Medich is living a glamorous but discreet life on the French Riviera, as he wants taxpayers to fund his $1.8m first trial.
National
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THE former wife of Sydney property tycoon and murder accused Ron Medich is living a glamorous but discreet life on the French Riviera, where she shares custody of a dog with a former lover who lives on a private island 600km away.
Odetta Medich, who goes by the name Odetta Chtouikite, spends her days playing tennis, going to the beauty salon and being driven around in her Mercedes by a chauffeur in the ritzy seaside town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer.
Her new life has been built far away from Australia and her ex-husband, who in on bail awaiting a retrial on allegations he solicited the murder of his former business partner Michael McGurk. Ron Medich, worth an esitmated $73 million in 2010, denies the charges and now wants tax payers to fund the cost of his $1.8 million first trial to pay his legal team.
Medich told The NSW Supreme Court he was out of money, earned no income, was “approaching” $1 million in debt and that he was locked in a court assets battle with Ms Chtouikite who “won’t give me a red cent.”
His ex-wife lives in a classic salmon-pink apartment on the main street of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, and browses the shops for home-wares, plants for the garden and expensive chocolates.
The stunning 49-year-old does not work, but has a housekeeper and occasionally a personal assistant.
Neighbours told the Sunday Telegraph she shared a dog with a former Italian lover, and the chauffeur would drive the dog the 1200km round trip between her apartment and her former boyfriend’s private island off the coast of Italy.
The mysterious former beau, whose identity is not known, gave her the dog, a Braque Francais, or pointer, as a gift before they parted ways sometime last year.
“He just came from time to time, he would come for a weekend,’’ a neighbour said of her former beau.
“I know he spoiled her. I know he was very rich. I know he had an island that belonged to him, he lived on the island.
“She sends the chauffeur to get the dog from the island in Italy.’’
The Sunday Telegraph this week tracked Ms Chtouikite down in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, where she was leaving a beauty salon after a manicure.
She refused to comment, saying she would “absolutely not’’ be speaking to the media.
She was also spotted heading home from an early-morning game of tennis but once again refused to speak.
Beaulieu-sur-Mer, meaning “beautiful place’’ in French, is a glamorous village on the Cote d’Azur between Monaco and Nice, which attracts A-list celebrities and Russian oligarchs, and whose streets are lined with luxury cars by Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Ferrari.
It was the inspiration for the fictional town of Beaumont-sur-Mer in the 1988 hit movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, featuring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, and many of the comedy’s scenes were filmed here.
While Ms Chtouikite first bought the apartment with her then-husband Mr Medich in 2008, she appears to have moved to the village full-time by herself some years ago, and dedicated herself to a multi-million-dollar renovation of her apartment in 2010. Her now-adult sons do not live with her.
A Sunday Telegraph investigation has revealed the Lithuanian-born Ms Chtouikite and the Croatian-born Ronald Edward Medich in July 2008 established a French legal entity known as a Société Civile Immobilière (SCI).
SCIs are commonly used by foreigners to buy property in France because they are tax-efficient, make it easier to buy properties in dual names, and help avoid problems down the track under French inheritance tax laws. They are also used to protect family homes from business creditors.
The documents obtained from public records show the pair are equal partners in the company, with 500 shares each, worth a total of 500 euros each, although Ms Chtouikite is the main director.
SCI Royal, the name of their entity, seems to be used entirely for the purchase of the property, which was so lavishly re-decorated in the style of a New York loft by Ms Chtouikite in 2010 it landed on the front cover of the World of Interiors magazine
The apartment is in a Belle Époque building - Belle Époquemeans “beautiful era’’ in French and is a classic architectural style developed in France between the 1870s and the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
According to the neighbour, the renovation of the 270 square-metre apartment was handled by an Italian company and ran for six months.
“She spent a fortune redoing the apartment,’’ the neighbour said.
“She had every room sound-proofed. It’s all in black lacquer. It’s like a hearse. It was an enormous amount of work.’’
A price for the apartment is not known, but would be several millions of euros, even before the renovation.
The estranged Medichs’ sold their waterfront mansion in Sydney’s Point Piper in 2014 for $37 million.
But for all her apparent wealth, Ms Chtouikite keeps a low profile around the town.
She has never visited the beach front casino, designed by Gustave Eiffel, the architect behind the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and was not known to frequent the impossibly-glamorous Michelin-starred La Restaurant des Rois in La Reserve Hotel, which overlooks the Mediterranean and where a foie gras entree will cost you $100 and a sorbet for dessert $45.
She has several social media accounts across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all set to private, under various names including Odeta Rose and Odeta Suikys Rose.
And she frequents the cheerful neighbourhood Italian place near her apartment, the Restaurant Les Vents D’Anges, with male and female friends, including a man aged in his 30s who staff noticed for his muscles.
A jury was last month discharged after being unable to reach a verdict on charges her former husband solicited the murder of Michael McGurk, his former business associated with whom he was mired in legal disputes relating to millions of dollars in property deals.
During the trial, it was revealed Mr Medich had for several months in 2010 been paying to have his then-wife spied upon, when their marriage was going through difficulties. This included Mr Medich asking his former friend and close associate Fortunato “Lucky’’ Gattallari to “find something’’ out about his then-wife, who was a socialite and patron of the arts scene in Sydney.
At one of the home design centres in the Beaulieu-sur-Mer village centre, the proprietor knew her and said she came in often to shop and browse.
“She is always very kind and smiles,’’ the woman said.
She is also known to shop at the upmarket Patrick Mesiano patisserie and chocolatier and visits the Beaulieu Beautesalon.
She plays tennis at a local club, and visits Monaco to shop and meet friends.
She is thought to have a new love interest, described as a man with “rust-coloured hair’’ but details on him are scarce.
“She is very quiet,’’ the neighbour said.
“No parties, (she) doesn’t go out that much.
“She used to live in Australia. She was married to a man, I think he (allegedly) killed his business partner, that’s what people in the building say.
“Afterwards she got together with the Italian and now she has got a new man.
“She adores flowers and animals.
“She travels, she lives well.
She studied French and spoke the language well.
The neighbour said Ms Chtouikite had “aubiane’’ – a French word that roughly translates as a windfall, or an opportunity.
“She married a rich man.’’
- Additional reporting by Rory Mulholland
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